Relay for railway signal systems



Jan. 8, 1935. P. D INKEL, JR

RELAY FOR RAILWAY SIGNAL SYSTEMS Filed Feb. 18, 1933 L 4 U P I fi U W F H U TQ U? U M z F z i U H U. U a U U F U L fl 5 la .U U v L U M/ 30 INVENTOR,

. BY 730x42 Bm f ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

Myinvention relates to signal systems, especially railway signals, and particularly to relays used in such systems.

The object of my invention is to provide retardation or slow pick-up for the armatures of said relays, to prevent undesired operation of the system as will be fully explained hereinafter. In its preferred and simplest form, the invention consists in permanent magnets associated with said armatures in such wise as to retard their pick-up, said magnets being eitherfixed in their positional relation to the armatures, or adjustable with respect thereto in order to vary their retarding or slow-up effect.

In the accompanying drawing, I have shown by way of example a railway track section associated with electrically operated signals which have incorporated in their circuits, in connection with .their relays, the preferred means for retarding the pick-up of the armatures of said r lays, though it is to be understood that changes 1 m be made in the system and means shown without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the claims hereunto appended. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art,

' moreover, that my improved delayed pick-up relay may be used to advantage in other circuits or systems in which a time lag in the pick-up of a relay armature is necessary or desirable.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan of a railway track section showing diagrammatically the signal circuits.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the electro-magnetic relay with the armature of which the retarding permanent magnet is associated.

Fig. 3 is an elevation at right angles to Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1, a track section is shown, comprising opposite 'rails having staggered insulated joints at 1 and 2 respectively. 3 is a source of electric current for the track to the left of said joints, and 4 is a source of current for the track to the right of the joints. 5 is a circuit from the current source 3 including both rails to the left of the insulated joints, and 6 is a circuit from the current source 4, including both rails to the right of the joints.

The circuit 5 includes an electro-magnetic relay 7, having an armature 8, and the circuit 6 includes a similar electro-magnet relay 9 having an armature 10. Both armatures 8 and 10 controls, separate circuit 11 having a current source 12, and said circuit has also a repeater relay 13, of which 14 is its armature which in turn controls a separate circuit 15 with a current source 16.

The circuit 15 is the signal circuit and operates signals of any suitable nature, though for a simple example, I may call them lights, indicated by G for green and R for red.

From the foregoing, the operation of the system as far as described is well known, namely, when no train is on the track, the relays 7 and 9 are both energized, causing both circuits 11 and 15 to be closed so that the safety signal G is in evidence. But when a train enters the signal section on either side of the joints 1 and 2, it shunts one or the other of the relays 7 and 9, thus releasing the relay l3 and showing up the red light R. I

A train upon that portion of the track between the insulated joints 1 and 2 has no effect upon the track circuits, because they are independent, but said track portion is so short, being approximately 16 /2 feet, more or less, that the front portion of a train proceeding ordinarily for example from left to right shunts the right hand circuit 6.prior to its rear portion leaving the left hand circuit 5, and thereby causing the relay 9 to be released before relay '7 is energized, so that the red light R, remains visible without interruption. However, if a single car or a light engine be traveling at high speed, the time overlap of its two ends upon the two track sections is so short, in practise only a fraction of a second, that the inherent lag in releasing of the armature of the relay 9 will cause the circuit 11 to be closed momentarily, thereby giving a false signal. In other words, a short car, traveling at high speed, will cross the dead track section between the joints 1 and 2 so quickly that the relay '7 picks up before the relay 9 releases, thereby momentarily flashing the green light G, which showing though but a glimpse is deceptive and is apt to and does in fact cause accidents. My present improvement may now be set out; but, preliminarily, it may be stated briefly that if the pickup of relay '2 be retarded, then the relay 9 will be de-energized before the armature 8 of said relay 7 has picked up, and thus cause relay 13 to remain ale-energized and red light R to show all the time the train is on the section. The same desirable effect can be secured by retarding the pick-up of the armature 14 of the re peater relay 13.

As at present designed, railway signal relays release, or drop away, as it is commonly called, in from one half to two seconds, this delay being necessary to the proper operation of other portions of the system, as is well known to those skilled in the art, and hence need not he further explained herein. But when energized, the armature picks up faster than it releases. In other words, it is an inherent characteristic of all such relays to pick up faster than they release.

In many instances, such as that described above, for example, it is extremely desirable that the pick-up of the armature be retarded, as well as its drop. The purpose of my improvement, as hereinbefore stated, is to provide means for retarding. the pick-up action of the armature.

My invention, therefore, contemplates the placing of one or more permanent magnets below the armature, in such position that a con-. tinuous force or pull is exerted upon it. This counteracts the electro-magnetic pull lifting the armature. Such counteracting magnet may be fixed with relation to the armature or it may be,

as I shall presently describe, made adjustable so that by varying its position relatively to the armature, the time of retardation may be varied.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, an illustrative means, by way of example, and which, at present, I deem preferable, is shown. As the three relays 7 9 and 13 of Fig. 1 together with their associated retarding devices indicated in said Fig. 1 by 17 are alike, it is only necessary to show in Figs. 2 and 3 one of said relays, which may be considered the one designated by 'l with its armature 8. Accordingly, 7, 7 in Figs. 2 and 3 are the two electro-magnets of the relay, and 8 is the armature swinging on pivots at 8a. Below said armature is an angle bracket 18 carried by a U- shaped hanger 19, and upon this bracket is carried the retarding device 1'7 which is a permanent magnet having its ends or pole portions 17a bent forwardly at right angles to its elongated central portion. The magnet 1'? thus lies beneath and close to the armature 8 and exerts a continuous downward pull thereupon, opposing the upward pull of the, electro-magnets '7.

The position of the retarding permanent mag net 17 relatively to the armature 8 may be a fixed one, but if preferred itmay be adjustable to and from said armature, as, for example, as here shown, by mounting the'carrying bracket '18 adjustably upon the hanger 19 by means of screws 20, and by similarly mounting themagnet 17 .upon the bracket 18 by means of screws 21. Thus by adjusting the screws 20 and 21, the poles 17a of the permanent magnet 1'7 may be moved both vertically and horizontally to, bring them into the desired position with relation to the armature 8. Changing the distance, or relation of the permanent magnets 1'7 to the armature 8 will increase or decreasethe time retardation.

Thus when. the electro-magnets of the relay are energized, the armature is raised whereby the circuit or circuits to the green signal 6 are closed. But the opposite pull of the permanent magnet upon said armature tends to retard the pick-up. The relation of strength of the perma nent magnet is to be such, however, that its counteracting pull will not over-power the pull of the electro-magnets, but merely delay the movement of the armature.

In order to simplify the drawing, the contacts have been omitted from Figs. 2 and 3, but these are of standard construction and well known in the art, and their specific construction forms no part of the present invention. The relay contacts are illustrated conventionally in Fig. 1, however, to show their relation to the circuits which they control.

It will be seen from the foregoing that my invention provides a simple and inexpensive means for correcting the above described fault in railway signal systems. It can be applied to existing relays at small cost, and does not necessitate replacement of expensive parts or changes in other parts of the system. It also provides a simple delayed pick-up relay which can be used' by said bracket to exert a force upon said armature opposite to that of said operating magnet; and means for adjusting the position of said retarding magnet with respect to said armature.

3. A relay'comprising an operating magnet; a pivoted armature; a retarding magnet having a pole adjacent to said armature on the opposite.

side thereof from said operating magnet; and an adjustable mounting for said retarding magnet permitting movement thereof in at least two rii rections whereby its pole can be shifted both toward and away from the face of said armature and toward and away from the pivot thereof. 7

4. A relay comprising an operating magnet; an armature beneath said magnet; a U-shaped bracket beneath said armature; and a retarding magnet carried byv said bracket and positioned between its bottom and said armature.

5. A relay comprising an operating magnet; an armature; a bracket; and a U-shaped permanent magnet carried by said bracket with its poles adjacent to said armature to exert a force thereon opposite to that of said operating magnet. 6. A relay comprising an operating magnet; an armature; a fixed bracket; 2. second bracket adjustably carried by said fixed bracket; and a retarding magnet adjustably carried by said secondbracket, the adjustment of said second bracket and said retarding magnet providing means for shifting said retarding magnet with respect to said armature in'at least two directions.

PAUL DINKEL, JR. 

